• Guide

How to leave FaceTime messages in iOS 17

Here's how you can send a FaceTime video message on an iPhone or iPad.

Donovan Erskine

October 11, 2023 9:00 AM

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The iOS 17 update for iPhone and iPads added a slew of new features for Apple’s smartphones and tablets. This included expansions to FaceTime, the popular video calling app. Now, users can use FaceTime to send video messages to their friends and family when they aren’t available for a call. If you’d like to try out the new feature for yourself, we can show you how to send FaceTime messages in iOS 17.

How to send FaceTime messages

To send a FaceTime video message, you’ll need to make a FaceTime call to someone in your contacts. If they don’t answer, you’ll now have the option to “record.” Select this option and your camera will open, allowing you to record a brief video of yourself to send to your contact. When they check their phone, they’ll be able to watch your video message in their FaceTime app.

It’s important to note that you can only leave a FaceTime video message when your call is not successful. There is no way to just send a video message to a contact (unless you send them a video through iMessage). Think of it as a voicemail, but with a video component. Be aware that you can only send FaceTime video messages to users who have updated their phones to iOS 17. If they’re using a prior version of iOS, the record button will be grayed out on the Call Unavailable screen.

That’s how you can leave FaceTime video messages in iOS 17. It’s a handy feature for when you want to show somebody something, but they aren’t available at the time of your call. It was just one of several new features introduced in the iOS 17 update for iPhones and iPads. For more guides and news in the world of Apple, Shacknews has you covered.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_